1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high pressure discharge lamp and a method for producing the high pressure discharge lamp. More specifically, the present invention relates to a long-life high pressure discharge lamp which, even after being used for a long time, has a low degree of blackening or decrease in luminance and is capable of preventing leakage of a contained gas or a blowout of a bulb, and a method for manufacturing such a high pressure discharge lamp.
2. Description of Related Art
In general, a high pressure discharge lamp has a structure, for instance, as shown in FIG. 4. In the high pressure discharge lamp 110 shown in FIG. 4, each electrode of a pair of electrodes 102 and 102 made of tungsten is disposed so as to be opposite the other in a quartz glass bulb 101, which includes a round-shaped central portion. Each of these electrodes 102 and 102 is inserted from a respective insertion opening 104 located at an end of the bulb 101 and each of the insertion openings 104 is airtightly sealed with the respective electrode 102 via a sleeve-shaped molybdenum foil 105 which is a thermal cushioning material. A halogen gas, such as mercury gas or methylene bromide gas, and an inert gas, such as argon, are contained and sealed in the bulb 101.
In general, a relatively large amount of mercury, for instance, in an amount of more than 0.15 mg/mm3, is contained in the high pressure discharge lamp 110. When the lamp 110 is lit and a trigger voltage is applied to the electrodes 102 and 102, a glow discharge is induced between the electrodes under the atmosphere of the above-mentioned inert gas and the contained mercury is vaporized to emit light of high luminance and excellent color rendering property due to a plasma discharge by the high-pressure mercury vapor. Since light of high luminance and excellent color rendering property is obtained by using the high pressure discharge lamp as explained above, the lamp has recently attracted attention as a light source for devices such as a projection type liquid crystal display and used for a variety of purposes.
During the initial phase of using the high pressure discharge lamp, problems associated with the use thereof were pointed out that blackening of the inner surface of a bulb is caused and the luminance of the lamp is lowered after being lit for a considerably long time. These problems are attributed to the fact that, as shown in FIG. 4, tungsten atoms or molecules W are vaporized by the discharge which occurs at high temperatures and deposited onto the inner surfaces of the bulb 101. Accordingly, in order to prevent the generation of blackening, a halogen gas is used and sealed in the bulb 101. The halogen gas produces halogen ions at high temperatures which bond to and vaporize the tungsten deposited onto the inner surface of the bulb 101 and re-deposit the tungsten onto a base portion of the electrode at which temperature is relatively low. This is a so-called xe2x80x9chalogen cyclexe2x80x9d and this cycle is repeated so that the generation of blackening of the bulb may be prevented.
A halogen compound, such as methylene bromide, is generally used as the above-mentioned halogen gas. The halogen compound, when the lamp is lit, is decomposed in the bulb 101 and generates halogen ions. In general, the halogen gas is contained so that the partial pressure of the halogen gas in the bulb 101 becomes 1xc3x9710xe2x88x926 xcexcmol/mm3 or greater which is considered to be an amount effective for preventing the generation of blackening.
Also, an inert gas, such as argon, is contained in the bulb 101 in an amount in the range between about 6xc3x97103 Pa and 6xc3x97104 Pa in order to induce a glow discharge at the start of lighting the lamp 110.
However, although a halogen gas is contained in the bulb 101 in order to prevent a decrease in the luminance of the lamp 110 due to the generation of blackening as mentioned above, the halogen gas, when present excessively, tends to erode and deteriorate the electrodes 102 and molybdenum foils 105 at the sealing portions of the bulb 101. If the erosion proceeds, a contained gas may leak from the sealing portions or a blowout of the bulb 101 may be caused since the pressure inside the bulb 101 exceeds 100 atmosphere due to the vapor pressure of the contained mercury. For this reason, studies have been conducted to achieve a total improvement of the high pressure discharge lamp, the improvement including the structure thereof and an amount of various components contained in the bulb 101 in order to prevent problems such as the generation of blackening, leaking of contained gases and a blowout of the bulb 101.
For example, the Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 11-149899 discloses an amount of mercury contained between 0.12 and 0.35 mg/mm3, an amount of a halogen gas between 10xe2x88x927 and 10xe2x88x922 xcexcmol/mm3, and an amount of potassium oxide contained in an electrode of 12 ppm or less.
The Japanese Patent No. 2829339 discloses an amount of mercury contained between 0.2 and 0.35 mg/mm3, and an amount of a halogen gas between 10xe2x88x926 and 10xe2x88x924 xcexcmol/mm3.
The Japanese Patent No. 2980882 discloses an amount of mercury of 0.16 mg/mm3 or more, an amount of a halogen gas between 2xc3x9710xe2x88x924 and 7xc3x9710xe2x88x923 xcexcmol/mm3, and preferably a bulb wall loading of 0.8 W/mm2 or more and an amount of an inert gas of 5xc3x97103 or more.
The Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 11-297274 discloses an amount of mercury which becomes between 100 and 200 atmospheres when a lamp is lit, and an amount of a halogen gas between 1.1xc3x9710xe2x88x925 and 1.2xc3x9710xe2x88x927 mol/cc.
However, no matter how the amount of components contained in the bulb of the high pressure discharge lamp is adjusted as described in the above-mentioned documents, problems of the decrease in the luminance of a lamp due to the generation of blackening, leakage of contained gas, and blowout of the bulb cannot be solved by any single means at the same time.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a high pressure discharge lamp in which the above-mentioned problems have been solved and a method for producing such a high pressure discharge lamp.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a long-life high pressure discharge lamp which, even after being used for a long time, has a low degree of blackening or decrease in luminance and is capable of preventing leakage of the contained gas or a blowout of the bulb, and a method for manufacturing such a high pressure discharge lamp.
The inventors of the present invention, after pursuing diligent studies to achieve the above-mentioned objectives, discovered that although an air in a bulb is vacuumed by using such means as a vacuum pump in advance of the introduction of various components to be contained in a conventional high pressure discharge lamp, oxygen components such as oxygen gas or carbon dioxide still remain in the bulb to some extent and these oxygen components inhibit the above-mentioned halogen cycle when the lamp is lit. It was observed that an excessive amount of a halogen gas must be contained in the bulbs of the conventional high pressure discharge lamps for the reason mentioned above and this shortens the life of the high pressure discharge lamps.
The inventors of the present invention also discovered that the above-mentioned problems may be solved by a high pressure discharge lamp including a quartz glass bulb in which each electrode of a pair of electrodes is disposed so as to be opposite the other in an airtightly sealed quartz glass bulb containing at least mercury and a halogen gas, wherein the partial pressure of oxygen (O) in the quartz glass bulb is about 2.5xc3x9710xe2x88x923 Pa or less and the partial pressure of the halogen gas in the quartz glass bulb is in the range between about 1xc3x9710xe2x88x928 xcexcmol/mm3 and 1xc3x9710xe2x88x927 xcexcmol/mm3.
In the high pressure discharge lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention mentioned above, the inhibition of the halogen cycle by the remaining oxygen is minimized since the partial pressure of oxygen in the lamp is restricted to about 2.5xc3x9710xe2x88x923 Pa or less. Therefore, according to the present invention, the amount of a halogen gas contained in the bulb may be reduced as compared to that in a conventional bulb and this leads to a prevention of leakage of the contained gas or a blowout of the bulb due to the introduction of an excessive amount of halogen gas. Also, the generation of blackening of the bulb may be prevented even after being lit for a considerably long time, and it becomes possible to obtain a long-life high pressure discharge lamp.
In a conventional process for producing a discharge lamp, on the other hand, although air in a bulb is tentatively evacuated to some extent in advance of the introduction of a halogen gas or an inert gas, the vacuum is not carried out to a degree by which the level of the oxygen partial pressure becomes 2.5xc3x9710xe2x88x923 Pa or less since it was not known until recently that the presence of oxygen inhibits the halogen cycle.
In addition, it was discovered that the remaining oxygen in the bulb decreases the production efficiency of mercury plasma and also decreases an initial luminance of the discharge lamp. Accordingly, the initial luminance of the discharge lamp can be improved and the time required for lighting the lamp (or the induction period of the lamp) may be shortened by restricting the partial pressure of oxygen to about 2.5xc3x9710xe2x88x923 Pa or less. In this manner, a high pressure discharge lamp which is capable of quickly reaching its stable state of luminance and maintaining the luminance for a considerably long time may be obtained by an embodiment of the method according to the present invention.
In this specification, the term xe2x80x9cpartial pressure of oxygen (O)xe2x80x9d means a total of partial pressure of oxygen-containing gases, such as O2, CO, CO2, and H2O. The partial pressure of oxygen may be measured by taking a sample of the gas contained in a manufactured high pressure discharge lamp, and analyzing the sample using any suitable means.
The present invention provides a high pressure discharge lamp, including: a quartz glass bulb having a sealing portion; and a pair of electrodes, each electrode of the pair of electrodes being disposed so as to be opposite the other in the quartz glass bulb; wherein at least mercury and a halogen gas are contained and sealed in the quartz glass bulb, and the partial pressure of oxygen (O) in the quartz glass bulb is about 2.5xc3x9710xe2x88x923 Pa or less and the partial pressure of the halogen gas in the quartz glass bulb is in the range between about 1xc3x9710xe2x88x928 xcexcmol/mm3 and 1xc3x9710xe2x88x927 xcexcmol/mm3.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the amount of mercury contained in the quartz glass bulb is about 0.15 mg/mm3 or greater with respect to the volume of the quartz glass bulb.
According to the above high pressure discharge lamp, the amount of mercury contained in the quartz glass bulb is about 0.15 mg/mm3 or greater with respect to the volume of the quartz glass bulb and the partial pressure of the halogen gas in the quartz glass bulb is in the range between about 1xc3x9710xe2x88x928 xcexcmol/mm3 and 1xc3x9710xe2x88x927 xcexcmol/mm3. On the other hand, although the amount of amount of mercury contained in a bulb of a conventional high pressure is about 0.15 mg/mm3 or greater, the partial pressure of a halogen gas contained in the bulb is 1xc3x9710xe2x88x926 xcexcmol/mm3 or greater in order to prevent a blackening of bulb wall due to the halogen cycle. Therefore, the above-mentioned high pressure discharge lamp according to the present invention is capable of avoiding the deterioration of electrodes or conductive elements in the vicinity of the sealing portions due to excessive halogen gas. Hence, leakage of contained gas or blowout of the bulb may be prevented and the lifetime of the high pressure discharge lamp may be extended. The halogen cycle does not proceed smoothly if the partial pressure of the halogen is less than 1xc3x9710xe2x88x928 xcexcmol/mm3.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the halogen gas contains bromine, chlorine, or iodine. This is because the halogen gas containing bromine, chlorine, or iodine can realize a smooth halogen cycle.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the high pressure discharge lamp further includes an inert gas which is contained and sealed in the quartz glass bulb, and the amount of the inert gas in the quartz glass bulb is in the range between about 6xc3x97103 Pa and 6xc3x97104 Pa.
The inert gas used in the above high pressure discharge lamp may be helium, argon, neon, or nitrogen. These inert gases are useful as a glow-starter.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the quartz glass bulb has insertion openings through which the pair of electrodes are inserted into the quartz glass bulb. It is preferable that the insertion openings are airtightly sealed with the pair of electrodes via a conductive element so as to form the sealing portions.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the conductive element is molybdenum foil.
According to the above high pressure discharge lamp, since an evacuation process of the quartz glass bulb or an introduction of gases to the bulb may be carried out by using at least one of the insertion openings through which the one of the electrodes is inserted, it is not necessary to form another opening for carrying out the evacuation process or the introduction process. On the other hand, the conductive element or molybdenum foil of sleeve-shape is present between the insertion opening of the quartz glass bulb and the electrode so as to airtightly seal the insertion opening with the electrode and to generate a thermal cushioning effect for the heat cycle of the high pressure discharge lamp.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the bulb wall loading of the quartz glass bulb is in the range between about 0.8 W/mm2 and 2.0 W/mm2.
If the bulb wall loading of the quartz glass bulb is outside of the above-mentioned range, the luminous efficacy (lumen/W) of the lamp will be reduced.
The present invention also provides a method for manufacturing a high pressure discharge lamp including a quartz glass bulb having a sealing portion; a pair of electrodes, each electrode of the pair of electrodes being disposed so as to be opposite the other in the quartz glass bulb; and at least mercury and a halogen gas contained and sealed in the quartz glass bulb, including the steps of: carrying out an evacuation process in which the quartz glass bulb is evacuated so that the partial pressure of oxygen (O) in the quartz glass bulb becomes about 2.5xc3x9710xe2x88x923 Pa or less; and carrying out an introduction process in which the halogen gas is introduced into the quartz glass bulb so that the partial pressure of the halogen gas in the quartz glass bulb falls in the range between about 1xc3x9710xe2x88x928 xcexcmol/mm3 and 1xc3x9710xe2x88x927 xcexcmol/mm3.
According to the above method, since the partial pressure of oxygen (O) in the quartz glass bulb becomes about 2.5xc3x9710xe2x88x923 Pa or less, and the partial pressure of the halogen gas in the quartz glass bulb is in the range between about 1xc3x9710xe2x88x928 xcexcmol/mm3 and 1xc3x9710xe2x88x927 xcexcmol/mm3, it becomes possible to produce a long-life high pressure discharge lamp.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the method for manufacturing a high pressure discharge lamp further including the steps of: carrying out a first electrode assembling process in which one of the pair of electrodes is inserted into a first insertion opening formed in the quartz glass bulb and then the first insertion opening is airtightly sealed; and carrying out a second electrode assembling process in which the other one of the pair of electrodes is inserted into a second insertion opening formed in the quartz glass bulb and then the second insertion opening is airtightly sealed, wherein oxygen present in the quartz glass bulb is evacuated from the second insertion opening in the evacuation process after the first electrode assembling process and before the second electrode assembling process; and the halogen gas is introduced into the quartz glass bulb from the second insertion opening in the introduction process after the evacuation process.
According to the above method, since the evacuation process may be carried out using the second insertion opening after the first insertion opening is sealed with one of the electrodes and then the second insertion opening is sealed with the other one of the electrodes, it is not necessary to form another opening specially designed for the evacuation process and no troublesome operation is required. Also, the halogen gas may be introduced to the quartz glass bulb by using the same insertion opening. The evacuation process may be performed by using any known device, such as a combination of a diffusion pump and a vacuum pump.
In yet another aspect of the invention, mercury is introduced into the quartz glass bulb from the second insertion opening in addition to the halogen gas in the introduction process.
In yet another aspect of the invention, an inert gas is introduced into the quartz glass bulb from the second insertion opening in addition to the halogen gas and mercury in the introduction process.
That is, after performing the evacuation process, mercury and the halogen gas and, preferably, the inert gas are introduced to the quartz glass bulb through the same insertion opening used for the evacuation process, and then the insertion opening is sealed with the electrode. The order of introduction of mercury, the halogen gas, and the inert gas may be interchanged. Also, two or more of these may be premixed and may be introduced to the quartz glass bulb at the same time.
The present invention also provides a method for manufacturing a high pressure discharge lamp including a quartz glass bulb having a sealing portion; a pair of electrodes, each electrode of the pair of electrodes being disposed so as to be opposite the other in the quartz glass bulb; and at least mercury, a halogen gas, and an inert gas contained and sealed in the quartz glass bulb, comprising the steps of: carrying out a first electrode assembling process in which one of the pair of electrodes is inserted into a first insertion opening formed in the quartz glass bulb and then the first insertion opening is airtightly sealed; carrying out an evacuation process in which oxygen present in the quartz glass bulb is evacuated from the second insertion opening after the first electrode assembling process; carrying out an introduction process in which mercury, the halogen gas, and the inert gas are introduced to the quartz glass bulb from a second insertion opening formed in the quartz glass bulb; and carrying out a second electrode assembling process in which the other one of the pair of electrodes is inserted into the second insertion opening and then the second insertion opening is airtightly sealed, wherein the quartz glass bulb is evacuated so that the partial pressure of oxygen (O) in the quartz glass bulb becomes about 2.5xc3x9710xe2x88x923 Pa or less in the evacuation process; and mercury is introduced so that the amount of mercury in the quartz glass bulb becomes about 0.15 mg/mm3 or greater with respect to the volume of the quartz glass bulb, the halogen gas is introduced so that the partial pressure of the halogen gas in the quartz glass bulb falls into the range between about 1xc3x9710xe2x88x928 xcexcmol/mm3 and 1xc3x9710xe2x88x927 xcexcmol/mm3, and the inert gas is introduced so that the amount of the inert gas in the quartz glass becomes in the range between about 6xc3x97103 Pa and 6xc3x97104 Pa, in the introduction process.
The order of introduction of mercury, the halogen gas, and the inert gas may be interchanged. Also, two or more of these may be premixed and may be introduced to the quartz glass bulb at the same time.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the first and second insertion openings are airtightly sealed with the pair of electrodes via a conductive element so as to form the sealing portion in the first electrode assembling process and the second electrode assembling process, respectively.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the conductive element is preferably molybdenum foil.
According to the above method, high airtightness of the high pressure discharge lamp may be maintained even for a repeated heat cycle.
In yet another aspect of the invention, it is preferable that the method for manufacturing a high pressure discharge lamp further includes a step of: preheating the quartz glass bulb and members that form the electrodes to a temperature in the range between about 1,000xc2x0 C. and 2,000xc2x0 C. in vacuum. The members that form the electrodes include, other than the electrodes per se, the above-mentioned conductive element or molybdenum foil.
According to the above method, impurities which inhibit the halogen cycle, such as O2, CO, CO2, and H2O, that are initially absorbed or contained in the quartz glass bulb and members that form the electrodes may be removed and, hence, it becomes possible to further extend the lifetime of the high pressure discharge lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention.
In yet another aspect of the invention, the insertion openings and the electrodes are heated to a temperature in the range between about 1,000xc2x0 C. and 2,000xc2x0 C. in vacuum in the first electrode assembling process and the second electrode assembling process.
According to the above method, impurities which inhibit the halogen cycle, such as O2, CO, CO2, and H2O, that are absorbed or contained in contact surfaces of the insertion openings and the electrodes may be removed prior to the sealing process and, hence, it becomes possible to further extend the lifetime of the high pressure discharge lamp according to an embodiment of the present invention.